TRUCKER FACES HOMICIDE CHARGE IN HIGHWAY WORKER’S DEATH

The Montgomery County district attorney has leveled a vehicular homicide charge against a Pennsylvania truck driver who allegedly plowed into a construction zone and killed a 66 year-old highway worker. Police say the trucker’s license was suspended at the time ofthe crash, back on October 22, 2012.

Highway workers live in the shadow of death every day. As they do their jobs, traffic races by at high speed and just a few seconds of inattention on a driver’s part can cause disaster. Back on that fateful October 22, a road crew was working on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Norristown when the suspect, behind the wheel of a 31,000 box truck, smashed into a highway maintenance vehicle at the side of the road. The vehicle flew forward, killing the worker doing his job in front of the truck. A passenger in the maintenance vehicle was also injured by the impact.

The box truck driver will also face charges of aggravated assault by vehicle, reckless endangerment, and other charges as well as the homicide count. He was jailed briefly and then released on bail. The driver’s attorney called the case “a tragedy for all parties involved.” The wreck closed part of the Turnpike for eight hours while authorities investigated the wreck and cleared away the debris. The Associated General Contractors organization says 68 percent of construction companies had vehicles crash into their highway job sites in 2011, and government safety officials report 61 workers were killed. Hundreds of others suffered injuries.